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An anonymous reader writes "In an effort to 'help improve child education and prevent misconduct,' the Venezuelan government began enforcing a law on March 3rd banning war videogames and toys, imposing a fine and 2.5 years in prison on the production, distribution, sale, hiring and use of video games and toys inciting violent behavior. Alberto Federico Ravell, former director of opposing news network Globovision, has already come on twitter denouncing the authorities for seizing imported Gameboy, Wii and PlayStation 3 consoles, due to considering them violent."

I am not aware of Venezuela under Chavez starting wars on the other side of the planet.The economic and quality of life graphs on Venezuela's Wikipedia page generally show sharp increases around Chavez' rise to power. The biggest harm he's done is to foreign business interests who were stepping on his electorate.

I have family in Venezuela, been going there for years. Here's an interesting story that was suppressed. The second time Chavez got re-elected by a super majority, 98.6% of the working population didn't show up to work the next day in protest. in contrast, he has done a lot for the poor in the haciendas on the mountain sides, but they don't have jobs and don't pay taxes. They don't contribute in major ways to the economy. I have no problem with job programs for such a populous, except that in Venezuela they don't get paid, they get tickets for socialized food programs. Still better than it was, but the working populous isn't making any of that money to invest in new business. All the job programs are run by companies Chavez owns. All the contracts those companies "win" are also owned by Chavez. You can't make any money without having to bribe officials. It's not just foreign interests he suppresses, he does it more internally. course he owns the media outlets and fines cable operators for not airing his marathon speeches. So I have no links. Take it as it is.Anon because my family is high profile.

Look, I agree that this is a crackpot law, and I have serious doubts about the viability of Venezuela's economy under Chavez. And, yes, he's a blowhard, a showboater, and a bit of a demogogue.

But Venezuela is nowhere near becoming the next NK, and is still very much a democracy. When a country with a lot of wealth has 70% of its population living in poverty, a redistributionist left-wing regime is going to be the inevitable result in a democracy, and for a (close) majority of Venezuelans, Chavez really has

Yes, a tinpot democratically elected president who for 11 years has been subverting all those democratic principles that allowed him to be elected in the first place. This cancer called Chavez has destroyed Venezuela's democratic institutions. His only aim is to stay in power for as long as he can.
I don't think this will end well.

He was elected to being with, and that election seems to have been fair. However since then he has been taking increasingly underhanded methods of retaining power, stifling dissent and so on.

Do remember that a large number of dictators are elected to power initially. They then just misuse the power and suppress freedom. That someone was elected initially doesn't mean they aren't a dictator now.

He was elected to being with, and that election seems to have been fair. However since then he has been taking increasingly underhanded methods of retaining power, stifling dissent and so on.

Do remember that a large number of dictators are elected to power initially. They then just misuse the power and suppress freedom. That someone was elected initially doesn't mean they aren't a dictator now.

I seem to recall a certain German dictator who I recall was originally elected, but I won't mention his name since I don't want to cause a Fuhrer.

A Spanish judge on Monday charged that Venezuela plotted to kill Colombia President Álvaro Uribe, collaborating with rebel groups ETA and FARC to kill other political officials as well.

...

Information used in the indictment came from the laptop computer of a top FARC guerrilla commander killed by Colombian forces in 2008. In the months that followed, the computer files revealed what international intelligence officials say are close ties between the FARC and top members of Mr. Chávez's government.

So, not only has Chavez invaded other countries (a proxy invasion is still an invasion), Chavez has tried to assassinate the democratically-elected leader of another country.

So, in your crazy little head, assassinating someone - which the CIA and our proxy Mossad do regularly - is the activity of a thuggish dictatorship...

I guess when Chavez plots an assassination of a government we subsidize, that's a crime. However, when we carry out plotted assassinations against our enemies, it's justice. Yes, it makes perfect sense to me now!

Really? Because quite a few just get the USA to put them in power. The Shah is a nice example of that, and the end result was the modern state of Iran. So how about we not stick our noses where it does not belong?

Pinochet taking over Chile? Triumph of democracy! America invading Iraq? Triumph of democracy! The CIA and the Shah taking over Iran? Triumph of democracy! Turkey supporting the Iraq war against the will of it's populace? Triumph of democracy!

If they have no video games they'll go outside and play... and then encounter other children who are being forced to have 'fun'... which of course will result in some altercations... a percentage of these will be violent... and viola! They no longer need video games to incite violent behavior. Problem solved.

Prohibiting things that are not proven dangerous is plain stupid. Why would you want kids in venezuela to go out, if its one of the countries with the most terrible urban security problems in all of latin america?

Im Venezuelan, linving in Venezuela. And the seizing of gaming consoles is a lie.
The new law, bans violent games and toys. So since yesterday no violent videogames can be imported or sold. The goverment will refund the stores who have violent videogames on their shelves so they dont lose their investment, as same for violent toy.
Thats all, Alberto Federico Ravell is a liar and a media terrorist.

Since I'm Venezuelan too, I suppose I might give this a try, taking into account a modified Frank Zappa axiom that nationality alone (instead of the original item, 'drugs') shan't be a license to behave like a douchebag or justify bogus attitudes. For those who don't like him, let's just say I'm trying to stay neutral here.
Now, what I saw from the Youtube videos, one of the main reasons violent videogames should be banned (according to The Man himself) is because, besides not being representative of our

Im Venezuelan, linving in Venezuela. And the seizing of gaming consoles is a lie.

You're a Venezuelan living in Venezuela, and the only thing you have to say is that the government is not seizing consoles? How about some outrage at the absurdity of this law? How about some disgust at the fact that your government is passing laws that shift parental responsibility to the state?

This is a silly ploy to make it look like the government is tackling crime. In actual fact, they are just trying to get political points at the expense of their citizens' freedoms and on the back of their citizens' [reuters.com]

I'd like to see what happens. I do not support this ban, but I look forward to reading about its effect on the behavior and crimes of children and young adults (assuming that a few years from now, someone manages to get good data about the behavior of children).

Well if this plays out anything like the Japanese pornographic censorship it may just create the sickest most violent media ever conceived, see tentacle erotica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tentacle_erotica).
Excerpt: "the practice [was invented] to get around strict Japanese censorship regulations, which prohibit the depiction of the penis but apparently do not prohibit showing sexual penetration by a tentacle or similar (often robotic) appendage."

The capitol of Venezuela also happens to have the highest per capita murder rate in the world. They just seem to be following the rest of the world...if you cant blame someone blame video games and anyone who doesnt want to be one of those statistics knows not to blame Chavez's regime.

When it comes to news about Venezuela, I'm bias-sensitive. There's a political divide there that is ten times as vicious as it is here. With that in mind, I'm confused about this bit of the summary, "former director of opposing news network Globovision." How does that fit in context?

Also, I understand that Venezuela has the highest murder rate of any country in the world. That seems like some necessary context for a law that punishes things that appear to encourage violent behavior.

The way things are developing right now in Venezuela, in a couple months we'll have no electricity to power our violent video games anyway.

It's another violation of our rights, but it'll have to take the back seat while we deal with the hijacked supreme court, the lack of separation of powers, 12000+ violent deaths a year, the constants attacks on freedom on speech and the money unlawfully gifted by Chavez to foreign countries while lobbying for its revolution and the 21'st century socialism, and estimated over 50 billion dollars.

This could be called my two cents, but being in Venezuela I can't exchange local to foreign currency freely, another right violation that's 6 years old and counting.

There is no seizing of consoles, that is a lie. However, this stupid law is true. In short, any sale, rent, distribution or even promotion of video games with any sort of "violence" in it, can get you 3 to 5 years in jail.

It is explained in the law proposal that this is meant to protect the children from violence, but there is no exception for adults. Yes, for ages 18+ porn is legal, prostitution is legal, bearing firearms (with permit) is legal, but video games? no sir.

Most game software companies will be unable to sell their products, the most affected are of course console games.

Article 3.1War videogame: Those videogames or programs usable in personal computers, arcade systems, video(game)consoles, portable devices or mobile phones and any other electronic or telematic device, which contain information or symbolism images promoting or inciting violence or use of weapons.

Article 14Any who import, manufacture, sell, rent or distribute war videogames or war toys, shall be penalized with prison from 3 to 5 years.

Not only that, but confiscating video game consoles is sure, without doubt, 100% going to make those people more calm !Not sure about everyone else, but if you want me to not turn into a dangerous driver, taking my car is not how you do that, and if you do, I'm going to be... well, not very happy!

As a gamer you should be educated enough to know which games are appropriate for a child, and as a parent you should be aware of what he/she is up to and police them yourself. As a parent I understand children are willful and disobedient at times, but once he's old enough to sneak one by me, he's probably old enough to handle some nudity and violence without turning into a serial killer.

I find it entertaining, and given the amount of money people spend on violence containing entertainment, I'm in good company. But I'm not going to let a young child around it.

Nudity and sex may not bother you, but I'd rather my child not be exposed to the usual treatment of the subject you'll get in video games. It is every bit as crass as their treatment of violence, which is also another basic element of nature.

Either way, these distinctions are up to us individually to use on our children. It should not

Tag's pretty violent when you get down to what the goal is, you're basically hitting your friends while running around. Should we ban that? All competition is violent, and some of us enjoy competing.From a certain perspective even Pong is violent (Slam that ball into your opponents goal! Yeah! Right past that loser!) so have fun without any games (not even number cruncher passes a strict definition of violence).

Perhaps you're referring to blood and gore which is an entirely separate thing from violence?

I don't think censoring as a society is the answer. But censoring as a parent for age/development appropriate levels to create a nurturing environment for kids makes a lot of sense IHMO (up to some point).

Games tend to be fun because they allow us opportunities to fulfill various evolutionary drives. FPS games for stalking, hunting, and chasing types of skills, puzzle games for problem-solving. Your brain rewards you when you convince it that you've just increased your own chances of survival...in the past, that often meant the death of your opponent. It really doesn't surprise me that it still generally translates to that in the games that we choose to play.

As a parent you applaud them giving out time in prison for the "production, distribution, sale, hiring and use" of violent video games for everyone, in the name of 'protecting the children', even when there's no evidence of it harming anyone? The whole thing is ridiculous on multiple levels. You shouldn't be applauding factually baseless think-of-the-children moral panic laws imposing harsh punishments and broad restrictions of the rights of others even as a parent.

Seizing anything is overboard. You might applaud the effort, but what do your kids learn? That responsibility is someone else's problem and that you have the right to control what others do? Those are the attributes of a reckless bully, exactly how we teach kids not to think. Parents should be against this for that (and the whole freedom of speech trampling of a universal human right thing).

If you read the article, it says things that "incite violence and hate". Sorry, but over the years I've grown tired of the military writing war simulators to train my kids. I've played these games, I know what they are. Child or adult, it just glorifies violence. If the US were more focused on deterring violence instead of sexual explicitness we'd be far better off. Sex is natural, killing other humans is not.

People have been killing for just as long as they have been fucking. For a long time the solution to grievances or injustice has been murder (Burr–Hamilton duel, Rome assassinations, Code of Hammurabi). Only recently have we replaced this with courts.

Not so much "replaced" as "supplemented". For a very long time, killing people was quite a popular punishment for various crimes, and still is in much of the world, though the more civilized parts have largely abandoned it. And even in those countries, people still sometimes solve their problems (in a less than legal manner) through killing. Not to mention motives like greed. There are many more reasons for killing than 'lol crazy people' or 'evil government evilly forcing people to do it, through evil'.

I'm sure Native Americans, tribal Africans, the Celts, the Vikings and all other tribal peoples without anything close to formal government or religious establishments never resorted to war, rape and pillage out of territorial instincts/motives or material desires. I'm just sure of it.

Look up instraspecific competition sometime. Biology disagrees with you. People not killing others for their stuff is far LESS natural than the alternative, without civilizations killing goes up (after all if I want joes stuff and nothing bad'll happen to me if I just go and take it what's there to stop me?)

I usually don't bother with tabula rasa people but really now? You're going to make an argument that's contradicted by ALL of human history and everything we

As a parent, let alone a human being, you should really FIND OUT about who Hugo is and what he has done to the people of his country.

I work with person from Venezuela, his family is here (U.S.) from Venezuela and they are all, everyone, completely opposed to mad-man, his usurping of power, his decimating the what freedoms the people of his country had, etc.

Hugo and the antics of his government deserve the ridicule and condemnation of all free people. This gaming thing is just a small small piece of the overwhelming oppression he has rained down on his people.

I'm not going to read all that because the fact that you think people who come from spanish, portuguese and the such families are responsible for the slaughter of the indigenous people 300 years ago.
You have no idea of how Venezuela is nowadays. It's one of the most dangerous, hostile, and ignorant countries in the world. The "Democratic process" is held by a company who's allied with Chavez. The "aristocratic rich" people are like, i don't know, 1% of the whole population? Yet the last election chavez won by less than 10% of the total votes. Really interesting isn't it? Why does he win? Because the ignorant masses vote for him because he's a ridiculous clown, is funny, and keep saying he helps the poor, which is a sad lie.
Why do I know that? For a fact. I live in Venezuela.

You do know that violence increased dramatically in his presidency, right?

Well since all the wealthy right wingers started funding violent opposition - complete with actual military coup attempts, egged on relentlessly by the media companies they own... it is hardly surprising.

Their remedy for "calm" is a traditional South American military crackdown on all uppity poor, complete with mass disappearances and executions in soccer stadiums - Chile style. Would this "reduce" violence? Of course - until it spa

I know for a FACT that violence has always been the heart and soul of video games! Did you know that the first video game, Pong, was based on two bullies pushing a nerd back and forth between them, with the "loser" being the one who didn't get in the last push before the nerd ran away?

As much as I hate censorship, I do agree with this sentiment. Has anyone actually sat down and watched a kids' show? Ben10 has something like 10 violent acts every 3 minutes.

Being anti-censorship does not mean "anything goes". I am the primary carer (uncle for my adopted nephew) for a 4 year old, and I can tell you there is a marked increase in hyperactive behavior, aggression and general lack of control for hours after watching Nickelodeon. Consequently, I have banned TV in my house. It was a few days of t

A child isn't a thinking being in quite the same way that a mature adult is. They're constantly looking for input to learn from. A forming mind is easy to manipulate. Violent content can shape their minds in possibly unhealthy ways. Later on in life, when a person's personality and behavior have stabilized, I don't think the mind is as easy to harm.

Looking at it from an evolutionary perspective, the human race grew up doing some nasty things, and individuals evolved to take in those experiences, survive, a

Violence in media is not the issue, its the acceptance of violence as a resolution in society that it.

I know a guy growing up, extreme fundamentalist family who filtered everything he watched, as 12 yr olds when we started watching Aliens and Terminator he was barely permitted to watch Blinky Bill. He was shipped off to a religious school as soon as was permissible and the last I heard, he'd spend his life since 18 in and out of rehab. His